Stony Brook basketball player charged with rape, campus cops say

Blair Mendy, 22, a Stony Brook University sophomore from San Jose, Calif., was charged wth third-degree rape, sexual misconduct and endangering the welfare of a child, said university police Chief Robert J. Lenahan. Photo Credit: Stony Brook University

Lenahan declined to comment on the alleged victim’s age and circumstances of the incident.

Mendy’s father, reached by phone, said in an interview he did not know about the arrest and could not believe the charges against his son.

“I think my kid was raised very well,” said Augustus Mendy, a banker in Palo Alto, California. “I find it very incredible to believe. I taught him to be a gentleman, treat ladies well. I always taught him to make the right choice.’’

The Stony Brook sophomore had been captain of his high school basketball team during his junior and senior years, according to his webpage with the Stony Brook Seawolves team. He has played two Seawolves games so far in the school year, his game statistics show.

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Mendy became the fourth player from the men’s basketball team to be arrested in the last 10 months.

Last October, the team’s top returning player, projected starting guard Ahmad Walker, 23, of Port Washington was suspended from the team after being charged with second-degree harassment, a violation, and resisting arrest, a misdemeanor, from an incident that occurred on Sept. 10, 2016.

Last April, shortly after Stony Brook made its first appearance in the NCAA Division I Tournament, against Kentucky, senior forward Rayshaun McGrew and sophomore guard DeShaun Thrower, who has since transferred to another school, were charged with third-degree grand larceny and third-degree criminal mischief in connection with an alleged theft.

Walker and McGrew’s cases are still pending. The status of Thrower’s case could not be immediately determined.